To Stop Site C

Day 54

What's Happening?

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Since March 13th, there has been a protest camp occupying the front lawn of BC Hydro's offices in downtown Vancouver, unceded co-Salish territory. This is a peaceful protest calling on Justin Trudeau to immediately halt the current, ongoing illegal construction on the Site C dam in the Peace River Valley, and engage in proper consultation with the Treaty 8 First Nations, who are currently challenging this project in court. From March 13th to 31st, Kristin Henry put her health and life at risk on hunger strike for 20 days outside the BC Hydro buildings in downtown Vancouver. After she was rushed to hospital and her heart and kidneys began to fail, she broke her fast at the insistence of doctors & family. However, the movement she began continues, with over a dozen protesters camping at the Peace Camp and supporters across the province working together to stop this project.

Why are we doing this?

  • The dam is in direct violation of both national and international agreements relating to the indigenous rights of the Treaty 8 nations who are opposed to the project. There are ongoing court cases brought forth by Treaty 8 First Nations to stop this project, yet the government is doing ongoing clear-cut logging and construction in the valley around the clock. This destruction needs to stop now.
  • The BC Utilities Commission (BCUC), a neutral administrative body who determines the necessity of this project, has not been allowed to conduct a full independent review of the project because the Clean Energy Act allowed the Site C project to avoid this review process. The BCUC has rejected this project twice in the past because the energy needs of British Columbians did not justify the immense costs of the dam. We demand construction is halted until the BCUC does their review.​
  • The dam has enormous costs in terms of valuable agricultural land, and threatens food security in BC. BC agrologist Wendy Holm has estimated that the Peace River Valley feeds 1 million people due to its unique micro-climate, alluvial soils, and access to water.
  • While the dam will create jobs in the short-term, it does not offer long-term job security. Once construction is finished the jobs vanish. In contrast, jobs created through small-scale renewable energy projects and agricultural farms create long-term jobs that will provide ongoing benefits to the economy of B.C. ​
  • The Peace River valley is an important wildlife corridor and migratory bird mating ground.

Take action:

  1. Visit our camp .
  2. Sign our letter.
  3. START YOUR OWN TENT CITY! This is a federal issue - a federal violation of our agreements to respect indigenous rights. Target your federal MP's.
  4. Contact the media and ask them to report on the camp. Feel free to tell the story in your own words.  Media contact: hungerstrikevancouver@gmail.com
  5. Write a letter to the editor.
  6. Support Treaty 8 nations in their court case against the dam.
  7. Write to your MLA and MP and ask them to take action. Remember to include your full address including postal code! When writing to the MLA, ask them to convince Premier Christy Clark; when writing to the MP, talk about Justin Trudeau. Find your MLA here and your MP here.
  8. Take to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, and any other kind of social media/sharing site you might have ever heard of - share our posts, post the articles we're sharing, retweet our tweets, tweet @justintrudeau and @christyclarkbc as well as @vanhungerstrike, and tweet at any celebrities you think might be willing to get involved.

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